Clown With A Frown – Winners of the “Free Recording Day at Clementine Studios” Contest

June 19, 2012

We caught up with Clown with a Frown, one of the three winners of our contest “Win A Free Recording Day at Clementine Studios”, to hear about their experience at the studio and their plans for the band. A young band of teenage musicians, Clown with a Frown consists of Abby on vocals, Johnathan and Reuben on guitars, Pramod on drums and Abheet on bass. Here’s what they had to say:

IndiEarth: How did you come up with the name Clown with a Frown?

Abby: The band name is inspired by a Russian poem we had in Pre-University. A child’s curiosity leads her to ask about clowns, where they live and what they eat. So we thought about how a clown looks happy and lives to make everyone laugh, but on the inside no one knows his true feelings. A clown always wears a mask. We’re like the clown because we’re happy, we’re hyper, we like to make people happy. But it’s also with a frown because emotions are pretty much inevitable. We express different emotions through every one of our songs.

IndiEarth: Any Indie bands that inspire you?

Reuben: About Blank, Galeej Gurus, Thermal and a Qarter and other bands we meet at shows come to mind. We love listening to new music. There are some fantastic up and coming Indian bands. We’ve got a lot of music we’re looking forward to listen to.

IndiEarth: How do you feel about IndiEarth?

Reuben: When I first found the website I was online searching for platforms for bands, when Indiearth popped up. I saw the write-ups and the whole connecting with the Media, and getting ourselves out there was really relevant so I thought we should sign up and see where it goes. Frankly, this platform helps bands like us, really fills a gap that persists between artist and Media. I don’t think I have found any other like IndiEarth.

IndiEarth: So how did the recording go?

Reuben: When we first got there we felt like we were stranded, in Chennai in the heat and humidity. Our first instinct was to reach the studio asap! So when we got to the studio it was like paradise! We started around 9 am, by which time TJ, head sound engineer at EarthSync and Clementine Studio, had come in. We had planned to try and finish at least the vocals and drums during this session but somehow everything seemed to click, and in one take drums were done, one take, bass was done, which eventually led to us finishing the entire song! We might rework the guitars a little. As a studio, EarthSync-Clementine was brilliant, we were mind blown, they’re head and shoulders above other studios we’ve been to. It’s got such an international feel and the quality of sounds, studio equipment and the sound engineer TJ… was excellent.

Abby: The Laya Project picture were plastered all over. That’s when it sunk in that this place is HUGE. My dad asked me if we remembered watching the Laya Project. It was our first time recording in a proffessional environment. We still felt at home though.

IndiEarth: Is the track ready?

Abheet: The raw mix is ready but the mastering needs to be completed. We didn’t realise how fast the day flew by. Each of us finished within 3-4 takes. We took a good four days to finish 2 songs. This was crazy because we were done in 9 hours with an entire track!

Reuben: TJ made us leave for about half an hour to put stuff together and we were so nervous . Then we went up to hear the track and sure enough, it was amazing!

Abby: The solo that Johnny did was insane, he’s such an improv guy.

IndiEarth: What is the song about?

Reuben: The track’s called “These Little Things”

Abby: I wrote it and Johnny composed it. It’s about how we shouldn’t worry about the future and we make our own destiny. Those are the opening lines, “a wise man told me not to be afraid, there’s so much waiting, a destiny to be made” and I started to think about how people miss the beauty around them, fail to notice it in this corporate lifestyle we’re living. How we should thank that force for making us unique and no one is like another. We set our own destiny, no one else does it for us.

Abby: Probably one of our deepest songs till date.

IndiEarth: What kind of feel does the song have?

Reuben: Musically it’s a very drum and bass dominated track during the verses. Johnny does an underlying lead/rythmn throughout the song that gives it a foundation. It’s got some crazy improv vocals as well. With a very David Gilmore solo intertwined.

Abby: We didn’t need to harmonize because it was so full in general.

IndiEarth: When will this track be completed?

Abheet: We feel this is more advanced than our other track in terms of how professionally it’s been completed. If all goes according to play the track should be ready by the end of June hopefully. We’d like to perform it at our shows.

IndiEarth: Any upcoming gigs?

Reuben: Yes we will be performing at Fete De La Musique at the Alliance Francais on the 23rd of June. We want to create an experience for this show, the first of its kind and are planning to do a circus theme – Circus music, dim lights and then the song starts, Circus announcer with a megaphone… “Ladies and Gentlemen step right up…”, lights fade and a vocal solo begins.

IndiEarth: What do you feel about IndiEarth? Experience?

Reuben: We are incredibly happy with Clementine Studios and IndiEarth is amazing. We hope we gain a lot more momentum out of IndiEarth. What a platform for up and coming artists! Very motivating.

IndiEarth is an online B2B platform that connects India’s non-mainstream independent Musicians and Filmmakers to worldwide Media. The platform features a blog, offers value-added services and wider opportunity networks through its partnerships. IndiEarth is an EarthSync Initiative.